The Oscar nominations are in . . . no surprises here

So as I collect my thoughts on 127 Hours and the Kings Speech the Oscar nominations are finally in and I can’t say that any of them are a surprise. In a year that has delivered some superb cinema it’s been clearly cut and dry as to which were going to be considered this year. With 12 nominations for The Kings Speech and 10 for a film I can’t wait to see, True Grit, you can sure as shit guess who’s up for best actor.  Jeff Bridges and Colin Firth are clearly the front runners here and although I haven’t seen True Grit, my moneys on Colin Firth taking it for his incredible performance as King George VI.

Best Actor Nominations
Javier Bardem – Biutiful
Jeff Bridges – True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King's Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours

Inception and Social Network both have 8 nominations; however Christopher Nolan hasn’t received recognition for his Directing talent amongst them. Right now I couldn’t pin a favourite for Direction as True Grit and The Fighter have not yet been released in the UK.

Best Director Nominations
David O. Russell – The Fighter
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
David Fincher – The Social Network
Joel And Ethan Coen – True Grit
Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

The Fighter and 127 Hours have 6 nods with Black Swan, Winter's Bone and Toy Story 3 receiving 5. Black Swan obviously see’s Natalie Portman being nominated for her role as Best Actress and even without seeing half the film’s nominated it seems like a sure fire winner for her.

Best Actress Nominations
Natalie Portman  – Black Swan
Annette Bening  – The Kids Are All Right
Jennifer Lawrence  – Winter's Bone
Michelle Williams  – Blue Valentine
Nicole Kidman  – Rabbit Hole

It’s also surprising but not totally unwelcome to see The Kids Are Alright nominated for 4 Oscars, a film I enjoyed, but for its characters, rather than the plot. However it has been nominated for Best Picture and in all fairness it’s the lame runner amongst a pack of tremendous films including Toy Story 3, which is also nominated for Best Animated Film.  It boggles my mind as to which film deserves the accolade but a big part of me believes Nolan should receive recognition for proving smart films can be palatable to worldwide audiences with Inception.

Best Picture Nominations
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

The rest of the nominations include some real deserved runners with The Way Back up for Make Up which it should really win. It’s disappointing to not see Tron: Legacy recognised for its stunning visual effects. And to see Of Gods And Men ignored in Foreign Film seems weird as many people included Mark Kermode have raved about this film, I really can’t wait to see it. It is great however to see How To Train Your Dragon nominated in Animation and Score, a deserved nod. It’s really down to Social Network or Inception on the Score front, both were mesmerizing.  As for Supporting Actors/Actresses the lack of True Grit and The Fighter here in the UK yet stops me from pinning a favourite just now. Anyway here are the rest of the main nominations. Let me know who your favourites are, which ones you are stunned to see nominated/not nominated.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo – The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit
Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale  – The Fighter
John Hawkes  – Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner  – The Town
Geoffrey Rush  – The King's Speech
Mark Ruffalo  – The Kids Are All Right

Best Original Screenplay 
Another Year - Mike Leigh
The Fighter - Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington
Inception - Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech - David Seidler

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours -  Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 - Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
True Grit - Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone - Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Best Animated Film
Toy Story 3
The Illusionist
How To Train Your Dragon

Best Foreign Film
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dog Tooth (Greece)
In A Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Outside the Law (Algeria)

Best Score
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell
Inception – Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours – A.R. Rahman
The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Best Song
Coming Home from Country Strong – Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled – Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours – Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 – Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Cinematography 
Black Swan – Matthew Libatique
Inception – Wally Pfister
The King's Speech – Danny Cohen
The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit – Roger Deakins

Best Costume Design 
Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King's Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

Best Art Direction 
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

Best Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Best Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Best Sound Mixing 
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Best Documentary Feature 
Exit through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Best Editing
Black Swan
The Fighter
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Best Make-up 
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman